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Another Frog Quilt Opportunity

We had a frog quilt opportunity a couple of years ago, and this one is even better. Master Naturalists, Carol and Ron Beasley, have donated this beautiful 80″ by 90″ frog quilt to help raise funds for Arkansas Frogs and Toads. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose mission is to raise public awareness of frogs, toads, and their habitat – why they are important, why they are in trouble, and what can be done to help them. This is accomplished through environmental and conservation education, outreach, and training of citizen scientists for FrogWatch USA™ and similar monitoring programs.

Tickets for this frog quilt cost $5 for 6 tickets. The drawing will take place next spring. You can purchase tickets by clicking on the link below and giving your name and phone number (so we can call you with the good news). Notice that the quilting has lots of dragonflies! How cool is that? Something for the frogs to eat.

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They adapt to the cold in a number of ways including freezing solid and then thawing out in the spring! Learn all about these amazing amphibians during this Frogs in Winter free presentation by Tom Krohn, Arkansas Regional Coordinator for Frog Watch USA and North Central Arkansas Master Naturalist.

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Frogs in winter can be challenged

Ever wonder where the frogs and toads go in the winter? They are “ectothermic” or cold-blooded animals that depend on the environment to maintain their body temperature. So where do they hide to avoid being frozen solid in a place like this?

The answer depends on which species you are talking about. And before we can address that, we need to describe what’s available in the winter environment.

Three choices for a winter home

There is water. Water would do frogs absolutely no good if it froze solid, but water has the unusual property that ice floats on the surface. It is less dense than the water it is floating on. In fact, water becomes more dense as it cools down to 39.16° F. Then it become less dense the colder it gets until it freezes at 32°. That means that the temperature of the water at the bottom of a lake or pond will be 39.16° F because the most dense water will sink to that level.

There is earth. The earth can become cold and freeze during cold weather, but only on the surface down to the frost line. You see, the earth is a huge heat sink that is not easily frozen. Below the frost line, the earth stays at a constant temperature – usually in the high 50° F range.

There is debris. The forest floor is covered with leaves, rotting logs, rocks and stone. Although these are not great insulators, they provide some protection from the wind and winter precipitation.

Frogs and toads in Arkansas hibernate in the winter. Their metabolism is greatly reduced or shuts down completely during hibernation. They find a place to “sleep” out the winter in a shelter called a “hibernaculum.” So which frogs and toads select each type of shelter?

Where do individual species go?

Aquatic Species – This includes the American Bullfrog, Green (Bronze) Frog, Pickerel Frog, and Southern Leopard Frog. These four will dive down to the bottom of the pond, lake, or stream and settle in to the mud and silt for the winter. The water and ice above them are great insulators against the winter. They stop breathing with their lungs, and blood is increased to the permeable skin where oxygen is obtained directly from the cold water (“cutaneous respiration”). Their legs are “spread eagle” to keep them in place. Their second eyelids (nictitating membranes) are pulled up over their eyes which sink deep into their cranial cavities for protection. They don’t get under the mud because there is not enough dissolved oxygen in it and they would suffocate. Their hearts continue to pump a small amount of blood, but they don’t eat and spend the winter in a state of torpor. By the way, Bullfrog and Green frog tadpoles will also over-winter at the bottom and fed on plant material and detritus (waste material).

Toads – This includes the Dwarf American, Fowler’s, Western and Eastern Narrow-mouthed toads, and the three Spadefoot species. Toads will take advantage of the warm earth below the frost line by digging a burrow (or borrowing one from another animal). Their metabolism cuts way back, but they continue to breathe and pump blood. The Crawfish Frog also stays in a burrow all winter. Unlike the aquatic frogs, these toads, spadefoots, and Crawfish Frog do not assume a “spread eagle” position, but keep their limbs close to their bodies.

Treefrogs – This includes the Bird-voiced, Cope’s, Gray, Green, Spring Peeper and Squirrel treefrogs, the Boreal, Cajun, Illinois, and Strecker’s chorus frogs, Blanchard’s Cricket Frog, and the Wood Frog (which is not a tree frog). These frogs find hibernacula on the forest floor. They pull their limbs in, protect their eyes, and shut down under leaf litter, in rotting logs, in a shallow burrow or in cracks and crevices of rocks. Their bodies produce a kind of glucose antifreeze that keeps their vital organs from freezing, but in many cases their bodies appear to freeze solid – like frogsicles! Wood Frogs in particular can exist in this mostly frozen state north of the Arctic Circle! In the spring, these frogs thaw from the inside out. Foxes like to scratch through the leaf litter in search of a frozen frog treat.

Your purchase of the 2015 Arkansas Frogs and Toads Calendar supports presentations and workshops held around Arkansas. Thank you . . .

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The Chytrid fungus (kit-rid) or BD has had a devastating effect on world amphibians since its discovery in the Monteverde cloud forest of Costa Rica in 1987. But a recent study by a group of European scientists may have found a natural predator of the Chytrid fungus that could save amphibians. Read this article in Scientific American magazine.

Save the Frogs Day – Saturday, April 26th

Peg and I spent an enjoyable afternoon at Pinnacle Mountain State Park south of Little Rock on Saturday. Jeremy Chamberlain and Chelsea Korfel brought several frogs and toads including bullfrogs, a chorus frog, green treefrogs, a dwarf American toad, a southern leopard frog, and an eastern narrow-mouthed toad.

Maryanne Stansbury, the park interpreter, was a great host for the event which drew many families. The kids were shown how to fold a business card into a frog and then race them.

Save the Frogs Day brings public attention to the importance of amphibians, why they are in trouble, and what can be done to help them. They can be indicators that the environment is in trouble.